


all that i wanted was a quiet life

by avosettas



Series: a cumbersome and heavy body [2]
Category: Evillious Chronicles
Genre: F/F, Post-Song: Master of the Heavenly Yard, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Song: Banica Concerto!, Song: Genesis Girl Gretel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26983354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avosettas/pseuds/avosettas
Summary: “That will be the akashic records, I think.” There’s a man on the stairs, one Lilith has never seen in the theatre before. His face is thin and gaunt, and the smile he wears is unpleasant and fake-looking. It reminds her of MA.Lilith only makes a face at him. (Sometimes, she forgets it responds to her, now. Sometimes, she forgets that Arte fixed her. It feels like forever ago.)
Relationships: Arte & Lilith Balledold, Arte/Lilith Balledold
Series: a cumbersome and heavy body [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969261
Kudos: 13





	all that i wanted was a quiet life

**Author's Note:**

> *banging pots and pans together* lilith and arte are in LOVE
> 
> (i know that Technically lilith is riliane but like... fuck canon they can exist at the same time)

Evils Theatre - what’s left of it, anyway - is quiet this morning. Lilith picks her way through the rubbish carefully. Somewhere above her, someone is playing music. 

It’s a slow, mournful tune she doesn’t recognize, with bells interspersed throughout the melody. 

(...Who is Meta Salmhofer?) 

Lilith blinks, and shakes her head a bit. The music is making her head feel foggy; she’s never particularly liked music. 

“That will be the akashic records, I think.” There’s a man on the stairs, one Lilith has never seen in the theatre before. His face is thin and gaunt, and the smile he wears is unpleasant and fake-looking. It reminds her of MA. 

Lilith only makes a face at him. (Sometimes, she forgets it responds to her, now. Sometimes, she forgets that Arte fixed her. It feels like forever ago.) 

“Musical records that relate time through their melodies,” he says, still with that unpleasant smile. “Dear Meta,” he adds with a laugh. 

Lich interrupts whatever he was going to say next as he comes down the stairs, grabbing the man’s arm. “Seth. I’ve been looking for you…” Lilith watches silently as Lich drags him away, discussing mud bodies and gods know what else. 

Lilith jumps over a bit of rubble in front of the staircase, and stomps her way up the stairs, dodging odd, bulging walls, and missing stairs. There are patches of light in strange places, and the shadows are different, too, because some of the ceiling is missing. She knows if she looks up, the tree cover she’s grown used to will be thinner, and the sky will be milky white. 

The world _did_ end, after all. She supposes it would be strange if nothing changed. 

The music grows louder as she climbs. (A country, blown to bits. Four women…) She covers her ears with her hands. Lilith has decided that if Arte isn’t upstairs, she’s going outside to nap in her delivery van. And then she’ll find Arte and shove her a little, because this is _unbearable_. 

(“Cain” and “Abel” died. “Hansel” and “Gretel” disappeared…) 

Lilith kicks the door open, since her hands are otherwise occupied. Arte and Pollo grin at her from in front of the record player. “Turn it off!” 

Arte does, and Pollo pouts a bit, but not where Arte can see him.

“What is that?” Lilith asks, knowing, but also hoping Arte can explain better than creepy Seth. 

“Me,” Arte replies. “Or us.” She gestures to herself and Pollo. “In the past.” 

“That creepy scientist said it was an akashic record. Whatever that is.” Lilith kicks some rubble towards the twins. 

“Oh, Seth,” Arte says, nodding. “I hate Seth. But, yes. It’s about Magic Kingdom Levianta. And Project MA.” 

Lilith flinches. 

Arte is suddenly right in her personal space, hands cupping her face. “Look, I’m sorry.” It’s the closest she ever gets to apologizing. “It stands for Mem Aleph. It’s not related to the witch. I forgot.” 

Pollo snorts behind her. Arte growls, and turns from Lilith, but only removes one of her hands. It’s grounding. “Shut up, Pollo!” 

Pollo says… something, back, but Lilith can’t hear it. She’s too busy focusing on trying to form words. 

“I need to go out to the truck,” Lilith says finally, interrupting their bickering. Arte nods. 

“Don’t get into trouble with Seth,” she tells Pollo sternly. He only rolls his eyes. 

Lilith’s head still feels funny as she leads the (slow) way down the stairs, stepping gingerly around the rubble. She’s just glad to still be verbal. And functioning beyond… 

Well. 

“One day, I swear, Pollo will be without me, and he won’t have _any idea_ what to do!” Arte is saying indignantly. 

“...He can cook, so he’ll live,” Lilith slowly quips in response. 

“Barely! It should be quality, but he always thinks quantity! No matter _how_ many times Lady Banica says she’d rather have one good meal over two bad ones!” She pauses. “Gods, that kid really destroyed the theatre.” 

“Yeah.” The staircase has blocks of rubble stacked in the threshold, and they skip over them. Lilith pauses. “I didn’t get the impression that Nemesis was a kid.” 

“Not her. The little boy,” Arte sighs. “Amostia.” 

“...who?” 

“Amostia,” Arte says again. “He’s already moved to where we’d like to go.” 

“I still don’t understand, Arte.” Lilith stops. “Where are we going?” 

Arte shakes her head, and smiles a bit, almost bitterly. “Seth made Amostia. He’s an ending boy, like Pollo. Or that Allen. But he has no counterpart. Nemesis used him to make Punishment.” 

“...I don’t think I was meant for politics,” Lilith says weakly. Arte just laughs and takes her hand, pulling her across the foyer of the theatre and out the doors. 

The air isn’t quite warm or cold, but it’s definitely humid. The sky is milky white, and the trees are black skeletons against it. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” Lilith says, pausing in the graveyard. Arte is still holding her hand. 

“Huh?” 

“It’s like there’s… nothing left.” Lilith explains after a moment of grasping at straws. “Like there’s nothing beyond the theatre anymore.” 

“A Re_birthday resets everything,” Arte replies patiently, but slightly condescendingly. “Eventually, this world will probably cease to exist.” 

“...Don’t you think that’s sad?” Lilith asks. Not that the world had really done her any favors. 

“Not really.” Arte says matter-of-factly. After a moment, she looks at Lilith. “Were you planning on staying _here_?” 

It’s a loaded question, and Lilith can see it in Arte’s mirror-image eyes. This world never did her any favors, and all Evils Theatre was was a place of trauma and bad memories. 

“...Where else would I go?” She says haltingly, staring straight at her truck. It’s bright red against the black, leafless trees, and the white-nothing sky. 

“On.” Arte replies. “Or sideways.” 

“Sideways?” Lilith looks at Arte curiously. The other girl is smiling mischievously.

“If the Fourth Period is forwards, as that Allen and that Riliane have made it, then surely a parallel world… it could be considered sideways?” Arte’s smile grows into a grin. “Come with us.” 

“We’re following… the little boy?” 

“Ugh, no.” Arte sticks her tongue out, and Lilith giggles. “I suppose we might see him. No, Seth wants someone to try his Neo Black Box on. Lady Banica has volunteered.” 

“And where she goes - “ Lilith begins. 

“- Pollo and I also go,” Arte finishes with a giggle. “Traveling universes. I guess it’s kind of exciting, huh.” 

“Yeah.” Lilith sighs, looks up at the sky again.

“Come with me,” Arte says quietly. Her shoulder nearly touches Lilith’s. “I’d miss you if you stayed here alone.” 

“You would?” 

“I might even worry about you,” Arte jokes, but it’s a quiet admittance all the same. 

Lilith looks at Arte, her eyes wide and hopeful, and then back up at the empty sky. “I guess anywhere’s better than here, especially if you’ll be there.”


End file.
